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Ottawa Bank Bust
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Date: March 11, 1992 Story The morning of March 11, 1992, was business as usual for a bank in Ottawa, Ontario until a man carrying a knapsack approached a teller, pulled a rifle out from under his coat, and aimed at the teller, demanding cash. "We have all kinds of robbery seminars," says teller Jeff Hamilton, "and they always told us, don't be the hero. Let them run the show." That's exactly what the teller did. He filled the robber's knapsack with bills, while an unsuspecting customer, Kevin Mulligan, stood nearby filling out a deposit slip. The robber and Mulligan exchanged looks, then the gunman aimed at him. Mulligan stared back with a defiant look, then obeyed the gunman's order to stand still. The gunman strolled out of the bank. Mulligan ran out, jumped into his truck, and called 911 from his cellular phone. "We have a bank robbery. I have the suspect," reported Mulligan as he tailed the gunman in his truck. "You have the suspect?" asked police dispatcher Rose Marie Pineo. "He's running on foot. I'm chasing him in my vehicle. He's going to fire at me." "Stay away from him," ordered Pineo, afraid that Mulligan was in over his head and would get hurt. "Don't go close." Mulligan followed the gunman for several blocks, then reported in frustration that he'd lost him. Suddenly, the gunman jumped from behind a building, charged Mulligan's truck and fired several rounds into his windshield. "He's shooting at men!" Mulligan shouted into the phone. "Get away from him!" ordered Pineo. "Drive away!" "I'm trying!" Pineo was scared to death for Mulligan, who was determined to continue the chase. A police officer met up with Mulligan at an automotive shop where Mulligan had seen the suspect run inside. Moments later, he was joined by several other officers, including Constable Mike Ryan, who led the pursuit. The suspect fled out of the building and led officers on a foot chase, over walls, across a busy freeway, and through a hole in the fence. Then the gunman stopped. To Constable Ryan, he seemed psychotic or combat-trained because, with absolutely no cover, he fearlessly fired upon the officers. They returned fire with handguns, insufficient fire power in this situation because they were too far away. The gunman ran inside another building and took two employees hostage. A SWAT team surrounded the building, and Inspector Alain Methot was called in to negotiate the release of the hostages, Bob Ireland and Marilyn Bosch. "This guy was like a bomb waiting to explode," recalls Inspector Methot, who could not satisfy the agitated gunman's demands without endangering the hostages. The suspect was taking his hostages upstairs when Ireland pushed Bosch and ordered her to run. Ireland spun around and kicked the gunman in the head, knocking him down the stairs. Then he wrestled the gun away from the suspect, ran outside, and shouted to officers to get their man. The suspect was apprehended in the back of the building in a stolen car. He subsequently pleaded guilty to four felony charges and was sentenced to twelve years in prison. Mulligan and Ireland were honored by the Ottawa Police Department for their heroism. "If Bob hadn't done what he did," says Bosch, "neither of us would be here today. The man said he would kill both of us and himself, too." "He was totally irrational," says Ireland. "A man without a plan in total desperation is very dangerous. I felt I had no choice, no option, and faced with that, I decided to fight." Mulligan doesn't regret chasing the suspect, but he realizes he could have been killed trying to catch a crazy man. "Instead of being gutsy," he says, "it was actually nutsy." "I wish more people would get involved in helping us out," says Detective Mark Pino, who was involved in the pursuit. "But not to the point where they get shot at or hurt, because we're getting paid to confront these people. That's our job. That's what we're trained for. Category:1992 Category:Canada Category:Robberies